Serinda Swan on 'Graceland' and Her Go-To Red-Carpet Designers

Serinda Swan is a former Guess model who made the Maxim Hot 100 list, but don't let her beauty fool you–she has played one badass character after another. After breaking into television with guest appearances on Supernatural, Smallville, and Hawaii Five-O, Swan portrayed the tormented, fearless bounty hunter, Erica Reed, for two gut-wrenching seasons on A&E's Breakout Kings. She currently shares big screen time with Billy Bob Thornton, Andre Braugher, Eva Longoria, and Travis Fimmel in the Southern-fried, good ole boys romp, The Baytown Outlaws, which is available on iTunes. In June, Swan's new series, Graceland, joins USA Network's lineup of smart, witty, well-written dramas populated with quirky characters.

Based on a true story, Graceland is named after a Malibu beachfront condo, which is seized from an Elvis-obsessed druglord. It becomes home to a cadre of prickly male and female undercover FBI, DEA, and Customs agents who happen to be single, attractive, and ferociously intelligent. Swan plays Paige Arkin, one of the housemates whose days are a tangle of clever banter, simmering chemistry, kitchen-chore bickering, and running the backstreets of funky Venice, outmaneuvering vicious thugs in a style reminiscent of Steven Soderbergh's Traffic.

We chatted recently with Swan, who is soaking up the sun in Fort Lauderdale, where Graceland is currently filming.

ELLE: It's freezing in New York, and you're a Vancouver native, so you know all about wind chill. How hard will it be to leave the warm comfort of Fort Lauderdale, and just before spring break madness?

Serinda Swan: [laughing] We'll leave just in time, a week before spring break! The boardwalk here doubles as the Santa Monica Pier. It's been a real whirlwind. When I was offered the role, I had to turn down a film with Samuel L. Jackson and Dominic Cooper [Reasonable Doubt], which was shooting at the same time. But as soon as I read the pilot script for Graceland, I just knew it was going to be great.

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ELLE: Tell us about your character, Paige.

SS: She's a tough as nails DEA agent but not filled with anger or ready to snap at any moment like Erica Reed on Breakout Kings; she's actually the opposite. Paige is always giving people a hard time in a sort of a fun, sarcastic way. Even though she is the life of the party and the comedic relief sometimes, there's a real grounded, deeper side to her. She's the character that people go to talk to and open up [to her], and then she'll slap them on the ass and tell them to stop whining and buck up.

ELLE:The Baytown Outlaws looks like it was a wild set.

SS: It's an offbeat, shoot-'em-up cowboy kind of craziness. We had a blast on set. We were constantly playing pranks on each other, especially Travis Fimmel. We girls wore six–inch heels all day, so we couldn't wait to get into our flip-flops after shooting. One time, Travis nailed my flip-flop to the floor, so I fell on my face when I went to walk! But we got him back. He had been a Calvin Klein underwear model, and there's a famous photo of him in a thong, which he's kind of embarrassed about. We printed out hundreds of copies and plastered them everywhere–walls, drink coolers. We pasted them on plates and Saran-wrapped them, so everyone was eating lunch off of Travis's thong. He got so mad! And then he stopped being a prankster.

SS: Yeah, we broke up a year and a half ago. He's very intelligent and is actually on another USA show right now, Necessary Roughness. But I'm single now. It's difficult dating, as an actor because your free time is precious. The guy I end up with someday is going to have to love traveling.

ELLE: Do you travel a lot in your downtime?

SS: I travel to Cambodia, Thailand, Bali, and Nairobi for my charities: Somaly Mam and Friends to Mankind. We skydive to raise funds, called "18 for 18 Project Rescue." And I find that if you can bring back something tangible, like clothes or necklaces or this intricate tattoo I got in Malaysia, that people ask about it. It shines a light and raises awareness about human trafficking. I love bringing the colors and textures of other cultures. If I wear a dress that I bought from a street vendor in Bali on a red carpet, it's a way of bringing my travels with me.

ELLE: What was like to jump out of an airplane?

SS: Absolutely fabulous! The first time, it was terrifying. But you don't feel like you're falling; you don't feel that gravity pull. You're being pushed up by so much air, that it actually feels like you're being held. When you jump, you count to three, and all I thought about was my girls [Cambodian victims of sex trafficking].

ELLE: In addition to your fashion finds in Asia, which designers do you wear?

SS: I love jeans and T-shirts but for red carpets; I like Oscar de la Renta, who is timeless. Marchesa celebrates the female form in an ethereal way. Donna Karan does an Urban Zen collection, which is eco-friendly. I love socially conscious fashion.

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